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"Leon..." Gently, Aquila reaches for Leon's arm, trying to calm him, but he swings at her, and she backs away.
"No, he screwed up!" Leon shouts at her. "He needs to know tha--"
"I do know that!" Jay cuts in. "If you guys are only here to tear into me for it, I'm not interested." Leon glares at him, his eyes still glowing. "Also?" Jay continues. "Swing at her again, and you're grounded."
Leon huffs and looks away, his eyes losing their glow.
Aquila stares at him for a moment before turning her attention to Jay again.
"The kicking isn't the only thing," she says.
"What else?" asks Jay.
"No, he screwed up!" Leon shouts at her. "He needs to know tha--"
"I do know that!" Jay cuts in. "If you guys are only here to tear into me for it, I'm not interested." Leon glares at him, his eyes still glowing. "Also?" Jay continues. "Swing at her again, and you're grounded."
Leon huffs and looks away, his eyes losing their glow.
Aquila stares at him for a moment before turning her attention to Jay again.
"The kicking isn't the only thing," she says.
"What else?" asks Jay.
Intriguingly complex power dynamic going on between the characters. How’s it all going to play out in the long run?
Huh, I assumed that they were all confined to the yard but if they can freely go into the facilities just to tell Jay off then they have more freedom than I thought.
There’s an outdoor enclosure where the kids play outside, and then there’s an indoor enclosure where they sleep, groom, eat meals, and play when it’s raining/too cold/because they don’t want to be out/etc..
There is a (communal) office as part of the indoor enclosure that’s (usually) locked when a caretaker isn’t present. Jay and Kim are both there right now though, so they can go in and out. There’s nothing in there that the kids aren’t allowed to see, except for maybe the laptops, but those are password protected and need a matching keycard to work, and even if they had both, they were never taught how to use a computer anyway.
There’s a locker area for more personal items that the kids can’t get into, and Jay has another office with stuff that the kids shouldn’t see in it (physical copies of medical records, detailed notes and reports, assignments, stuff like that) separate from the enclosures somewhere else.
Oh, thank you for the response! I also went back and read the webnovel and this all makes more sense now. (I hadn’t realized it was a prequel and thought it contained spoilers, oops!)
I see! That explains what Jay meant earlier about Elaine – I had thought the office was meant to be locked at all times, oops!
Yeah, sorry! It’s a prequel! Thanks for reading it, I hope you liked it! I feel like it gets overlooked because it’s kind of tucked away in a corner lmao
Also yeah–Elaine’s shift is during the day when the kids are asleep. She doesn’t interact with them much, but she’s there if someone wakes up and needs her. She’s planned to make at least one actual appearance at some point, but outside of that you’re not gonna see much of her. On rare occasions she forgets to lock the door when she leaves lol–it’s one of the only doors in the entire facility that she regularly interacts with that doesn’t lock on its own–but it is unlocked when a caretaker is present.
Its good that he knows he fucked up and is willing to listen